Crossword Genius

Most bizarre couple holding hands that is separated by monarch (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

weirdest

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'most bizarre couple holding hands that is separated by monarch' is the definition.
'weirdest' can be an answer for 'most bizarre' (I've seen this before). I'm not sure about the rest of the definition.

'hands that is separated by monarch' is the wordplay.
'hands' becomes 'we' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'that is' becomes 'id est' ('that is' in Latin).
'separated by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'monarch' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for regina, e.g. in ER ).
'idest' placed around 'r' is 'irdest'.
'we'+'irdest'='WEIRDEST'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for weirdest that I've seen before include "Most strikingly odd" , "Most unearthly" , "Most uncanny!" , "Most bizarre" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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